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Wednesday, September 1, 2010

A First

The Uses of Enchantment by Heidi Julavits - I wanted to like this book for so many reasons. First was the intriguing synopsis of the book on the inside cover about a young Mary Veal who disappears after field hockey practice only to reappear a few weeks later. What happened when she was missing, was she abducted,or did she run away? Mary says she can't remember anything , her therapist believes she is lying and writes a book about her that makes her life a nightmare. Her family doesn't know what to think. The second reason is rather shallow but I can't help it...I wanted to like it simply because the authors name is Heidi, silly I know but there are so few of us I feel like we need to stick together, but on this occasion I just can't.

I found this book so difficult to get into that I actually for the first time realized that Gretchen Rubin author of the Happiness Project (which I loved) was so right when she said that sometimes you just need to put the book down and move on. Damn I'm practically swimming in books so its not like I'm lacking for reading material so for the first time I'm putting this one down half finished. I just can't read any more. Heidi Julavits' writing style is just not for me. It was work to read each sentence. I don't need to be made to feel stupid just to enjoy a book. Her prose was so purple in parts it was painful. I often felt like I was climbing a mountain just getting to the next page. Reading for pleasure isn't supposed to be so difficult.